Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection

[AZ Birds]

sounds like a good deal but i want to hatch my chicks. that way they know me from the very start and i can tame them and could pick them up quiet easily (being wheelchair bound is hard to catch birds lol). dang 7.5 year i didnt even know chickens live that long i guess i still have lots to learn about this crazy critters.

 

[kenjofarms]

The problem with simple quarantine for whatever length of time is if you don't put a sentinel into the quarantine from your own flock, you can't discover the silent carriers of disease in the new birds. Just because new birds didn't come down with anything doesn't mean your originals won't CATCH anything. I learned this the hard way - now I will choose a sacrificial lamb of sorts. Either way for me I now have a chronically infected flock so no one leaves...alive. And any new ones coming in can be expected to get sick. After a while I will have to bring in new genetics but for now...

 

[AZ Birds]

The problem with simple quarantine for whatever length of time is if you don't put a sentinel into the quarantine from your own flock, you can't discover the silent carriers of disease in the new birds. Just because new birds didn't come down with anything doesn't mean your originals won't CATCH anything. I learned this the hard way - now I will choose a sacrificial lamb of sorts. Either way for me I now have a chronically infected flock so no one leaves...alive. And any new ones coming in can be expected to get sick. After a while I will have to bring in new genetics but for now...

oh yeah i really didnt think of the silent carriers. the method of sacrifice seems like it would work well. i guess in the end you can never beat disease though just try different methods and hope for the best. i think i just had bad luck on my side this time around. hopefully my 2nd flock will be better and i will have chickens for more then a year.

 

[PaulaSB12]

My chickens are having the occasional cough, runny nose. They are eating fine, in fact they are putting weight on and they active in the garden, dustbathing and pottering about digging up worms they are on tylon. Is there any chance its not something that will need them being culled?

 

[dawg53]

My chickens are having the occasional cough, runny nose. They are eating fine, in fact they are putting weight on and they active in the garden, dustbathing and pottering about digging up worms they are on tylon. Is there any chance its not something that will need them being culled?

Medications for respiratory diseases treat, but not cure whatever disease it is. They simply "mask" the symptoms including tylan. Your birds willl aways have the disease, survivors are carriers. At some point in their lives they will get stressed for some reason and the symptoms of the disease will show itself again. If this happens, most likely the tylan will be ineffective because the disease probably has built resistance to the antibiotic. If it's a viral disease, antibiotics are useless. There are more powerful antibiotics to treat your birds, but where does it end? The end result will eventually be the same.

 

[AZ Birds]

My chickens are having the occasional cough, runny nose. They are eating fine, in fact they are putting weight on and they active in the garden, dustbathing and pottering about digging up worms they are on tylon. Is there any chance its not something that will need them being culled?

your chickens behavior sounds similar to mine and most likely is mycoplasma. the state vet told me tylan will work as masking the disease for a bit but then it gets use to the tylan and then it becomes defective as time goes on and your birds end up suffering til there death. another reason i culled my birds is because this stuff can spread from bird to bird wild or domestic so in keeping the birds your not doing neighboring farm birds or wild birds any favor but instead adding to the problem. sorry if this not what you want hear but in my mind it made me ok with culling all my birds. oh yeah forgot to add my neighbor who lives 5 acres away has lost two pea fowl to the same symptoms in the last month so it can and will travel dont know if it was at his place first or mine.

 

[colochicks24]

Hi AZ Birds,
How's your new flock doing?

I'm facing a similar situation to what you went through. I brought two new started birds into my small flock of three hens. The started birds were carriers of something. I culled one of them (runny nose, sneezing, lameness and eventual paralysis) a couple days ago and now one of my original girls is showing signs. :-( I'm thinking I'll have to cull all of them. (Other posters on BYC think it sounds like MS/MG.)

Sigh. Live and learn, I guess.

Did you end up burying or burning the bodies? And how long did you wait till you got new chicks?

Thanks!

 

[BuffOrps123]

About 5 or 6 of my flock have mycoplasma- but it doesn't matter. I have 18 chickens in total, I just put Tylan in their water. It stops the symptoms, and I don't care if my whole flock gets it, as long as their not suffering from the symptoms. I know I could never ever cull a chicken. Why do you all cull your birds?? I also add new chickens to the flock, and keep them all together. DON'T CULL CHICKENS!! THEY CAN LIVE HAPPY LIVES WITH MYCOPLASMA!!!

 

[BuffOrps123]

Even though it stunts growth, like my 6 month buff Orpingtons :/

 

[mithious]

Not culling flocks that are ill is the reason why we have so much disease in our back yard flocks!!!! There are some people that I know that have kept their chickens, sick, but they practice biosecurity to keep other flocks from getting sick...YET...there is still the wild bird population that will and does transmit diseases to other flocks.

I read, lots, and am one that agrees with culling a sick flock. How else are we going to get a handle on disease on our back yard flocks? If I find out my flock has a disease, I will cull, period!!!

I do not want to be the one to give it to others through irresponsibility! Yes the birds can live with disease, as a greater expense to others and the flock owner. Why would anyone want to keep a flock that will give their disease to other flocks? I really don't understand that way of thinking! I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem!

Az Birds, I agree with Dawg, you, and everyone else that believes culling is the only way we could possibly get a handle on disease in our little flocks.

When I first was getting back into chickens, I had thought about showing them, as I am getting heritage birds in the spring, BUT I read where a person was showing and selling birds with a self reported ocular mareks bird in their flock and there went showing out the window. They are still selling and showing. There are always going to be those people that have the attitude, "not in my flock" or " I can help them and keep them alive" without a thought to other flock keepers. I was shocked to learn how much disease has spread and grown since I was raising chickens and showing. I don't go to fairs, chicken swaps, and practice biosecurity. I started with some hatchery birds and am not to thrilled with them. So far, I am on my second bout with a parasite and am hoping and praying I don't have some hidden disease....I keep watching them like a hawk, to see if they show ANY signs of disease. Yes a wild bird can also bring it in, but that is far more rare than buying birds that are sick already. Even chicks!!! As you are all seeing that some diseases can pass through the eggs.

I wish more people were like most of you posting on here, and doing the research, being responsible when something does pop up and culling and starting over. That would and will be my of dealing with any kind of disease, if I should get one. I do not bring in new birds either. ONLY from reputable breeders and with a good long islolation period even then! Or the reputable hatcheries! That is the only way we are going to rid the back yard flocks of these diseases! IMHO and from all the research I have been reading!